1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to sun blocking devices, and, more particularly, to a novel attachment for eyeglasses, frames or sunglasses to protect the eyes of a person walking, biking, hiking or driving from the blinding glare of the sun's rays when the sun is low, and to save lives.
2. Description of Related Art
The glare of the sun when it is low in the sky, when either rising or setting, is one of the most annoying and most often dangerous factors encountered by persons who operate a vehicle, such as an automobile, a bus, or a truck, either early in the morning after sunrise, or at sunset. This is particularly annoying and dangerous for people with light-sensitive eyes, older persons, or those with impaired vision for any reason. Many attempts have been made to overcome this problem, and include such devices as that set forth in U.S. Pat. No. 3,597,052 to Dittman. This patent discloses a glare filtering device having an elongated bar and two laterally spaced groups of spaced parallel blades that form vertical grids when in use. The two groups of blades or grids are disposed in front of two notches in a tinted plastic strip also carried by the bar. The bar may be removably secured on a spectacle frame by spring clips, and the spring clips may be fastened to a shaft pivotably mounted on straps that are secured to the bar, so that the anti-glare grids can be swung up out of the way during daylight, or swung down in front of the spectacles for use when the sun is low. This patent to Dittman, however, allows the anti-glare device to be swung to a vertical position in front of a person's eyes where a walker, hiker, cyclist, driver, etc. might have problems looking through the grids, thereby requiring the wearer to move or tilt their head to see on-coming traffic, etc.
Additionally, U.S. Pat. No. 4,338,003 to Adrian discloses a pair of anti-glare spectacles, comprising a frame and a pair of lenses, with each lens having a substantially circular central zone of substantially complete transparency and an adjoining light-absorbing annular zone over an angular range of substantially 45.degree., in which the light absorption increases sharply from the inside of the annulus, and drops toward the outside of the annulus by the square of the angle. An outer zone of each lens has a low absorption. These lenses require that a person wearing them move or tilt their head to avoid some glare, and the lenses are expensive to make and not comfortable for all persons to use or wear.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,729,321 ("'321") to Wielhouwer discloses a pair of sunglasses for preventing injury from the intense rays of the sun when lying in the sun, and includes a generally rectangular tinted transparent panel and a generally rectangular opaque sunshield rotatably mounted to a slender resilient headband, which supports the glasses on a forehead of a user. When the tinted transparent and opaque sunshields are both in vertical or horizontal positions, the opaque sunshield is in covering relationship to the tinted transparent panel. The opaque sunshield of the '321 patent completely blocks the sun, and is for use by a sun bather or person in the sun, and not to see, particularly, while driving a vehicle.
Additionally, the above-set forth patents, although they provide improvements in the art, tend to be complicated and expensive, and do not always allow a driver to safely see while looking into the lower rays of the sun, and are not suited for use with all pairs of glasses, or by all persons.
Therefore, there exists a long-standing need in the art for a low-cost and easy-to-use life-saving attachment or device for eyeglasses, frames, or sunglasses that will block substantially all of the light coming from low sun rays, to allow a person to comfortably and safely walk, bike, hike or drive a vehicle, when such low sun rays are present.